Do you think the small fears of the EAH’s royals fates that bled into their everyday lives, before they ever considered rebelling?
Apple, Ashlynn and Briar giggling and gossiping about which of the Charming’s family will be their princes, and Briar has to keep reminding them that no, hers hasn’t been born yet.
The three of them at 5 or 6 imagining their weddings and drawing each others matching bridesmaids gowns. But Briar’s mom quietly pulls her away, because it’s best not to get excited about it.
Briar and Apple talking about their new, expensive dresses and shoes and parties, while Ashlynn politely waist for a subject change. Because her story dictates she grow up poor, and a workhorse in her own home.
Apple as a happy, cherubic child, thinks if her life is as perfect as it could get, that if she is as perfect as she will ever get, then how is her Happily Ever After is supposed to any different. Doesn’t know why it’s worth being poisoned to get there. She doesn’t ask. She knows her mother wont tell her.
Apple, as a teenager whose body is working against her. Being perfect isn’t about being sweet and well-mannered anymore; it’s about the constant upkeep over a body that never wants to stop changing. That every minor detail she sees in her mirror is stamped out. Every zit, every stretch mark, every curve, every boney edge. To the point where, in the most solitude part of her mind, Apple wonders if being the fairest is worth anything. If being able to walk past a mirror without checking might be worth whatever is waiting on the other side of her Happily Ever After.
Apple, a high school student, watching her mother watch her through the constant tracking apps on her phone. Tracking her grades, her meals, her clothes, her friends. And thinks maybe her Happily Ever After is just being allowed to stop. If it’s not being the fairest anymore. And then pushing the weight of it onto her daughter.
The princesses teachers always scolding them for being too eager with their crushes because they know their True Love is waiting for them. They aren’t allowed to be too excited about boys, it isn’t fair on him.
Duchess seeing this and knowing she isn’t getting the same talks. Sees the pity in the adults eyes anytime she mentions going on a date; knowing they know her True Love will abandon her so why deprive her of these small moments.
Dexter and Daring, for all their differences, both privately wondering what comes after they’ve saved the day. Their princesses carry the legacy, they’re the ones the story is about. They see older Prince Charming’s and know their job, at its core, is breeding stock. Create the next generation of characters, and fade into the background.
Darling knowing this too, and knowing there’s a wall between her and her peers. She’s a princess but she isn’t allowed to shoulder her destiny like Apple or Ashlynn. She’s a Charming but she’s not allowed to be a hero. She doesn’t even know what story she’s signing onto. She just knows she has to spend her years sitting and waiting for someone else’s Fairytale to start so she can be dragged along with it. She sits through Princess lessons, and she sits through Charming family dinners, and she wonders what the point of it all is.
All three Charming siblings looking through the family history of Dashing Princes, and finding The Swan Princess. Questioning how anyone can go into their story knowing the wrong choice is dooming their One True Love. How powerful can True Love be if he always knows this and he always makes it anyway. Not knowing how anyone can live with themselves after their story has ended. All three crossing their fingers that they’ll get one of the ‘Good Endings’ instead.
theartofmadeline
amandla
turnnoffyourmind
titsay
yousharknotpass
